The Great White Hype (1996)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Reginald Hudlin

Writers (WGA):

Tony Hendra (screenplay) and
Ron Shelton (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

If you can't find the perfect contender....make one.

Plot:

When the champ's promoter, Rev. Sultan, decides something new is needed to boost the marketability of the boxing matches...

Plot Keywords:

Boxing | Boxer | Satire | Corruption | Woman As Object

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Rev. Fred Sultan
Jeff Goldblum	...	Mitchell Kane
Peter Berg	...	Terry Conklin
Corbin Bernsen	...	Peter Prince
Jon Lovitz	...	Sol
Cheech Marin	...	Julio Escobar
John Rhys-Davies	...	Johnny Windsor
Salli Richardson-Whitfield	...	Bambi (as Salli Richardson)
Jamie Foxx	...	Hassan El Ruk'n
Rocky Carroll	...	Artemus St. John Saint
Albert Hall	...	Roper's Manager
Susan Gibney	...	Vivian
Michael Jace	...	Marvin Shabazz
Duane Davis	...	Palace Guard #1
Lamont Johnson	...	Palace Guard #2

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:R (certificate #34402) | South Korea:15 | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:MA | Denmark:16 | UK:15

Company:

Atman Entertainment

Trivia:

The lion's head entrance to the MGM Grand featured in the movie has since been removed because many Chinese gamblers avoided the casino (or entered through the back entrance), due to the feng shui belief that entering the mouth of the lion was bad luck.

Goofs:

Continuity: The length of Roper's cigarette just before the fight.

Quotes:

James Roper: [standing at podium] You want this?
[grabs title belt and places it on top of podium]
Marvin Shabazz: Yeah.
James Roper: I'll spank you with it!
[slams belt onto podium]

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Great White Hope (1970)

Soundtrack:

We Got It

It's a Boxing Movie...

I used to be a boxing fan, until Don King and Tyson killed whatever credibility the sport had left, but I really enjoyed this movie. The whole beginning of the film with Wayans and Jackson going back and forth and the idea for the big PPV draw, seemed straight out of an actual King and Tyson meeting. The plot is pretty straight forward and most of the "jokes" miss, but it is a SATIRE not a comedy, so that is forgivable.

Damon Wayans, Samuel Jackson, Cheech Marin, Peter Berg, and John Rynes-Davises, all give notable performances playing their characters well. The rest of the cast does a decent job of not taking the film too seriously with the notable exception being Jeff Goldblum, who tries so HARD not to make you laugh at him, that eventually you give up. It's like he was in his own film, trying to be so serious, but he is still able to help the film, but in a darker way than the rest.

I will be the first to admit that most of the "jokes" that seem to pepper the satire seem to have been thrown in to generate a wider audience and alienate the ones that actually want to watch the movie. It plays more like a documentary on "How to Market a Fight," then an actual movie, but I like the amount of small details that went into making the film. It is too bad no one figured out "How to Market a Successful Film with the Guy from 'Pulp Fiction'" because maybe more people would had seen it. Overall it is still a must-see for those who like boxing or those who used to.